Oskar Schönning - Happy Jazz,Please

BEST OF 2006!I like jazz. You should too. This is bandleader/double-bassist Oskar Schönning's second record under his own name. Think Charles Mingus with a Swedish touch ala Jan Johansson.

The band Oskar Schnning came into being at a club called Nardis sometime June of 2002, in the town of stersund, Sweden. Nardis had been founded by Oskar and some of his friends, allowing for spontaneous projects and groups to get together and perform their music. This, one must mention, would not have been possible without Ingrid Persson at Ett Rum och Kk. The club housed everything from bands like Kampus and Nyfors with their punk-like delivery, to the sounds of jazz veterans Krister Andersson and Lasse Hrnfeldt.

The ''embryo'' of this group came about through a project Oskar and Emil Strandberg set in motion named Heroes and Villains, combining their respective instruments of bass and trumpet with an array of electronics. They were joined on one piece by dobro player Anders Kronlund and in the course of that number understood that this was meant to become a trio. About a year later the group reassembled, having allowed for that passage / occurrence of time which brings about the seeds and birth of new songs. This time they were to record (live at Nardis), leading to the very rare release of Oskar Schnning's first EP entitled Heroes and Villains.

The second longplayer ''Happy jazz, please'' was released the third of May 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden. This time, the roots from jazz is more significant.